'Canes continue homestand against Blue Jackets

(SportsNetwork.com) - The Carolina Hurricanes look to continue a five-game homestand with a second victory in a row on Tuesday night as they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Hurricanes dropped the opener of their residency to Minnesota on Friday, but rebounded to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 7-4 on Sunday. That snapped Carolina's two-game slide and was its fourth victory in six games.

It wasn't easy as the 'Canes fell behind 3-0 before ripping off six straight goals to take control. When all was said and done, Elias Lindholm notched two assists in addition to his first career hat trick, while Jeff Skinner had two goals and Eric Staal four assists.

Cam Ward needed to stop only 16 shots in the win.

"Instead of deviating away from what works, we just stayed with it and got rewarded," said Carolina head coach Bill Peters. "That should be a real good lesson moving forward, not just this year but moving forward. There's no panic and no need to change anything."

Ward is 2-4-0 with a 3.09 goals against average and .877 save percentage in seven career meetings with the Blue Jackets. Both wins have come this season as Carolina has taken the first two of four encounters with the Blue Jackets this season.

Carolina is 4-0-1 in the past five meetings overall.

The Blue Jackets snapped a seven-game slide (0-6-1) with a win over New Jersey on Friday, but were then blanked 4-0 by the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.

Curtis McElhinney gave up three goals on 12 shots in the first period and Sergei Bobrovsky was in net to start the second period, finishing with 20 saves.

"I thought for most of the game we were outworking them, had a lot of shots on goal," said Columbus forward Ryan Johansen.

Bobrovsky is expected to start tonight and is 5-3-0 with a 2.10 GAA and .933 save percentage in eight games versus the Hurricanes.

Columbus may get defenseman Kevin Connauton back in the lineup tonight for the first time since Feb. 24. He has been out with a lower-body injury, but has been cleared to return.

Fellow blueliner Fedor Tyutin may also play tonight despite being sent home on Monday due to illness, though forward Jared Boll's status is up in the air after he was hit on the hand by a puck during Monday's practice.